Shores Publix to close in 2014 to make way for bigger store

Monday

Sep 2, 2013 at 1:15 PMSep 2, 2013 at 1:18 PM

By Bob Koslowbob.koslow@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES — Even before the renovation of its Port Orange store on Taylor Road is complete, Publix is planning to close and rebuild its Daytona Beach Shores store, most likely starting in early 2014.Officials for the Lakeland-based grocery store chain declined to comment on plans for the Daytona Beach Shores store, but a real estate development company — CWH Real Estate Services, also based in Lakeland — has submitted a site plan that calls for demolishing the existing Publix store at 3044 S. Atlantic Ave. to make way for a new, bigger Publix store, city officials said.“The developer has done other Publix stores,” said Stewart Cruz, Daytona Beach Shores city planner. “Since the beginning, they've talked of closing (the chain's Daytona Beach Shore store) just after New Year's (Day), on Jan. 2, and having it reopened before Thanksgiving 2014.”The existing Daytona Beach Shores Publix store occupies 40,396 square feet of a 48,803-square-foot building built in 1983. A CVS pharmacy occupied the remaining space until about a year ago. The planned new building will be slightly smaller at 47,431 square feet, but Publix will occupy the entire space resulting in a larger store. The site plan includes adding a drive-through pharmacy and separate Publix liquor store, Cruz said.The site plan is scheduled to be reviewed by the city's planning and zoning board on Oct. 8.On the same night, the City Council will discuss a special ordinance that would allow Publix to waive “minor” land development codes that include some landscaping and paint color regulations in exchange for enhanced architectural features in the new building, Cruz said. The council's second hearing of the ordinance and its only hearing on the site plan will be on Oct. 22.Temporarily losing the grocery store located in the middle of a long stretch of oceanfront condominiums would force Publix shoppers in Daytona Beach Shores and neighboring Wilbur-by-the-Sea and Ponce Inlet to shop for groceries elsewhere.A Winn-Dixie grocery store on South Atlantic Avenue, just over 2 miles north of the Daytona Beach Shores Publix, is the next closest supermarket for residents in those three cities.Across the Halifax River, two Publix stores are about three miles from the Dunlawton Avenue bridge. One is at 2400 S. Ridgewood Ave. in South Daytona in the Sunshine Park Shopping Center. The other is at 3821 S. Nova Road in Port Orange, at Dunlawton Square shopping center.Publix closed its other Port Orange store 2½ miles to the west at 1660 Taylor Road in mid-April so it could be demolished and replaced with a bigger 49,000-square-foot store.The old Taylor Road store at Westport Shopping Center was 42,323 square feet.The new store will have new colors and decor and will have larger fresh produce, wine, cheese and deli sections. It will employ about 160 workers, roughly the same number as the old store, said Dwaine Stevens, a Publix spokesman.The $5.4-million store rebuild project should be completed before Thanksgiving, said Patrick Opalewski, vice president of the Root Co. in Ormond Beach, which owns Westport Shopping Center.